Verbena hybrida. 
xe2x80x98Esca Redxe2x80x99.
The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of verbena, botanically known as Verbena hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Lan Esca Redxe2x80x99. The new cultivar is asexually reproduced from vegetative cuttings and tissue culture resulting from the cross of the seed/pod parent 98-520-1, an unnamed and unpatented deep pink proprietary line and the pollen parent xe2x80x98Temari Redxe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,311), a commercial line.
xe2x80x98Esca Redxe2x80x99 is a product of a planned breeding program intended to create new verbena cultivars with red colored flowers, dark green foliage, vigorous growth and trailing habit.
The new cultivar was created in 1999 in Gilroy, Calif. and has been asexually reproduced repeatedly by vegetative cuttings and tissue culture in Gilroy, Calif. over a two year period. It has also been trialed at Gilroy, Calif.; Alberta, Canada, Litchfield, Mich. and Andijk, The Netherlands. The present invention has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive propagations; and this novelty is firmly fixed.